ATHENS -- This football season marks the start of new tailgating rules on the University of Georgia's lush North Campus, which has fans scattered between downtown bars, parking garages and wherever else they can squeeze in a tent and a TV.
Always the site of some of the most elaborate partying spreads before the games, North Campus also was akin to a war zone after the crowds left. This fall the university is clamping down, prohibiting tents, kegs, generators, TVs, loud music, grills, long tables and, well, "household furniture" on the most historic part of campus.
If you're still looking to tailgate before a UGA game, many North Campus tailgaters are setting up shop at Myers Quad -- an open, grassy space just a stone's throw from North Campus -- while others are claiming spots at the North Campus parking garage on Jackson Street.
Parking passes are available online at gameday.uga.edu.
"It's definitely starting back from square one," said Billy Timmins, a 2006 UGA grad who now lives in Atlanta. He and his friends traditionally toted tents, tables, grills and TVs to their North Campus spot in front of the school's library.
This year they bought a parking pass for the garage, where a handful of other fans had tents and tables set up. But the sparse setting was completely different from the crowded revelry that was North Campus tailgating.
So if you need to spend the pregame hours hanging with 100 or so of your closest UGA friends, your best bet is to head over to Athens' downtown area.
Some business owners initially worried the North Campus rules would divert foot traffic away from downtown, but the opposite happened for UGA's home opener. Hundreds of fans packed Clayton and Broad streets as an alternative to tailgating.
"We would've headed to North Campus," said Atlanta resident Eddie Armstrong, who was barhopping with some friends before the game. "We're just going to watch the game at a bar."
Most bars now have multiple TVs they pull out on game day, and several restaurants, such as Red's Southern Tavern (104 E. Washington St.) and The Pub at Gameday (251 W. Clayton St.) are always outfitted for football fans.
At Allgood Lounge (256 W. Clayton St.), manager Steve Novak said he expects record crowds this year, thanks to the tailgating ban. By 10 a.m., the bar was crowded for UGA's noon kickoff against the University of Louisiana-Lafayette. The same was true a block away at Lansdowne Road Irish Pub (262 College Ave.), where bartender Nicole Garten said she expects a packed house all season. "We're always packed -- especially for home games," she said.
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